Thousands Riot in China After Death of Teenage Girl

Rioters set fire to official buildings in south-west China this weekend in protest at the alleged cover-up of a girl's death.

About 10,000 villagers took to the streets in Guizhou province on Saturday after the 16-year-old's body was pulled from a river. According to messages on the internet, her family accuse relatives of officials in the public security bureau of raping and murdering her. But officials in Weng'an county ruled it was suicide.

The state news agency Xinhua said that the violence had been caused by unhappiness at the official ruling. "Some people who did not know about the exact context of what had happened were instigated to mob the police station and the office buildings of the county government and Communist party committee," it said.

Paramilitary police took control after several hours and internet sites removed postings related to the incident.

The Hong Kong-based Information Center for Human Rights and Democracy said that about 500 middle school students marched to the public security bureau to protest but were dispersed and beaten, triggering the riot. The group said one person died, 150 were injured and more than 200 were detained. Its account could not be independently confirmed and the public security bureau could not be reached.

A worker at Weng'an's hospital told the Associated Press that about a dozen students and police officers had been brought in, most with superficial wounds. A local said 100-200 protesters took part in violence, with some beating police officers.

An official told Reuters that the girl's family had rejected the authorities' offer of 3,000 yuan (£220) in compensation for the death, later increased to 30,000yuan.